Broken Strings, Last Words
by pixieface Lust
Summary: It wasn't enough. No, not for a heart as broken as theirs.


Hey guys! I'm back with another fanfiction. I have a story with EXACTLY the same original title and almost exactly the same plot. But, I wrote it for NaruHina. And since, I'm so addicted to this song, writing a SasuIno for it was a must! I'm not exactly in love with this story, but I think my writing style for this was at it's peak! Lol. I am however, in love with my characterization, you can notice Ino being so mature that you'll be proud of her. Haha. There's nothing to explain except I wrote this coz I'm in love with this song, and I was jealous of my NaruHina (first and last! lol). And, I am in love with this song-did I forget to mention that? Lol. No, it's just...this is a still foreign genre for me. And, I'm doing my best to get into it. ;) This is so angsty! I love it!  
(I've been so into _One Tree Hill_ lately that depression is the only emotion I know. Haha.)

**I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! AND ENJOY!!!**

I dedicate this fanfic to **Tricy **(my girl who's never let me down. ILY),** Chris** and **Liya** (because without them, I wouldnt even begin to know where to start writing angst and drama. Their writing inspires me A LOT) and then to **Kate**, who knows all to well the effects of a depression like theirs in the story.;) I love you all. T, ChrisandLiya, and Twinny.

(**I do not own Naruto- Misashi Kishimoto's  
and "Broken Strings" - James Morrison's**)

So, without further delay...

**

* * *

**

Broken Strings  
(Last Words)

_You can't play on broken strings._

A girl and a boy sat in the middle of a deserted bedroom. Consequently, after years of no contact, no communication, nothing at all, they just so happened to run into each other. And that's when history came flooding back. It was like their world began spinning a different direction. They didn't know how to live in that world. Everything was contrasting—so out of order. Now, the two sat back to back. Not able to bear seeing each other. They'd have to count on their voices.

"You shouldn't be here." The girl whispered as she lowered her head. "What are you trying to do?"

"I know I shouldn't be here." He answered her in his low voice. "But I have to make things right with you." He said after pausing.

She let out a dry laugh. "What things?" she was starting to become irate. "There are no _things_." She said carefully.

He shook his head, "Yes. There. Are." He protested, "You know there are."

"I used to think there would be." She said immediately. He heard her. He heard she was hurt. Extremely hurt—she was breaking on the inside. "I learned that I can't play on broken strings." She shook her head and then paused. He didn't say anything either. How could he? "All that's gone now." She stated.

"That's not true, Ino!" He spun around so that he could see her. But what greeted him was her back and her long blonde hair up in a ponytail. No, she wouldn't look back. She shook her head. "I love you." He finally said.

_You can't feel anything that your heart don't want to feel._

"No, you don't." She said emotionlessly. Her heart felt like ice. She wouldn't believe him. She couldn't.

"Please, listen." He almost begged, "What I did to you, it was wrong. And I don't even know—"

"—you didn't do anything wrong." She cut him off bitterly, "Leaving the village?" She snorted, "It had nothing to do with me or…whatever." She rolled her eyes although he couldn't see them. "As far as I know, there was nothing wrong with that." She stopped. As he was formulating a reply, her mouth, as usual, went into its quick play, "Not the way we left things."

That struck him deep. He didn't want to bring back the scars of those memories. Yet, it's bringing it back that would be likely to solve their problem. It was something they'd have to endure.

"I'm sorry, okay!" He said finally frustrated. He had lowered his head and covered his face with his palms. A sign of frustration.

She didn't say anything, but slowly, the tears began to trail down her face. "Yeah, me too." She said quietly.

"What can I say to make it better?" He raised his head up hoping she'd look back at him.

Ino just shook her head. She didn't know. Nothing could make it better at this point, at least, not to her.

He sighed in frustration and frowned in depression, "Say you love me." He begged fighting away the tears. "I wanna hear you say that you love me." He wasn't strong enough to keep it up, and in less than a second, his cheeks were wet, too.

_I can't tell you something that ain't real._

"I—" She breathed, but paused. "It's too hard." She choked, "Why are you making me do this?" Her voice was pleading.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this, Ino." He told her.

"Then, how!?" She finally raised her voice aggravated, wiping away the tears, "How was it supposed to be, Sasuke?"

"I realize now that I did love." He told her, "I _do_ love you." He corrected himself. "Then, as much as I do now." He spoke truthfully, and she could find no insincerity in his words. "But the feeling was foreign to me, and I did everything possible to ignore it and push it aside. It wasn't useful to me." He admitted.

"So…you left?" She attempted to piece everything together. Starting by that one question.

"One of the reasons," He confessed, "I tried to run away from it. But I was never successful."

She couldn't say anything to that, he was being honest and she couldn't ask anymore of the story, she didn't want to hear it. Not again.

All she could do was tell him how she really felt, "I am hurting, Sasuke." She cried, "So, so much." She didn't bother to wipe them away, "I can't take the heartache. I can't suffer like this anymore. It's too much. Everything's too much." She told him.

Sasuke hiccupped as his crying intensified hearing how much he hurt her from Ino, herself. It was so painful to love her.

_Running back through the fire when there's nothing left to save  
__It's like chasing the very last train when it's too late._

"You told m you loved me and I stared at you." He began, they were breaking again. But it had to be done, "I didn't say a word. I made you feel like a fool, I made you feel stupid." He composed his quivering tone, "But you don't know how much of an idiot I felt. And then I leave you without a word. I severed all contact…" he shook his head regretting he'd ever done this, "I tried to erase you from ever being in my life."

Ino's breath hitched at that one statement and she choked while the tears streamed faster.

"But, I would give anything for you to say you love me again." He touched her on the shoulder. "Ino, I'm crazy to be so in love with a person who doesn't even care if I existed."

Ino shook her head and chuckled one syllable, "You're not the only one, then." She sighed. She knew all too well that that was her place long before Sasuke left. The fool who was in love with a simple dream. "I don't think there's anything left."

He was extremely depressed to her those words out of her. Sasuke retreated his hand. "Do you believe in second chances?" He asked her after thinking hard on a reply.

_It tears me up  
__I try to hold on but it hurts too much  
__I try to forgive but it's not enough to make it all okay _

"I don't know anymore." She admitted.

"Do you think you'd ever give me a chance?" He asked her slowly.

"I would've done anything for you, Sasuke." She told him weakly, "But over the past 5 years," She had a hard time saying those long, hard years, "I realized that I had to do things for myself." She said, "Anything we do now, will never be enough to make it okay." Sasuke began to tear up again, "I don't think so. It'll never be." Ino said solemnly.

"You don't know that." He protested, "If you love me, we could get through this together. I wan't to help you. Please, Ino. Everything will be okay for me if I just hear you say it." He told her.

"How about me? Do you think it would be okay for me?"

"I want to help you through it, so badly. I wish I could take it all away, I wish you weren't hurting as much as you are." He said to her.

"I'm sorry." She wiped a tear, "I can't imagine things getting better." She sighed.

Sasuke reached for her shoulder again, "Ino," tried calling her attention, "did you miss me at all?" he wondered after a period of silence.

That's when she finally turned around so she could face him.

_The truth hurts and a lie's worse  
__How can I give anymore when I love you a little less than before._

Even with stained eyes and a tear-streaked face, she was beautiful. More beautiful than he could ever remember.

"I stopped missing you after sometime." She said to him honestly, not making any eye contact. "I didn't think it was worth it."

It felt like a thousand senbon piercing his heart when she said she stopped missing him. Nothing she said could have been worse.

"I know. I'm sorry that you loved me and that I'm in love with you. It's not that easy anymore. And I guess I have to accept the fact that I don't deserve your love." He told her. He would accept this as punishment. It was well-deserved after what he did.

Ino shook her head, how wrong he was. Didn't he know that she'd never stop loving him?

"Sasuke," she began, looking him straight in the eye. He caught her gaze and they maintained it. "I will always love you," She told him, a smile almost crept on his lips, his heart about to jump for joy, but then he saw her eyes flicker, and knew she wasn't done. "But, I love you a little less than before." Her gaze fell to the floor and Sasuke remained unmoving.

Suddenly he felt numb, and nothing else even mattered anymore. Useless.

Nothing she said could have been worse, except for that.

_Let me hold you, for the last time,  
it's the last chance to feel again._


End file.
